Who Did This?

The tale begins with a typical child-like scene: a boy getting into trouble in the book, Who Did This? (illustrated by Poly Bernatene). The mother is busy painting. Her son, Billy, wants to help to which mom says to just go and play with his dog instead. All of the painting eventually leads mother tired.

As she naps, Billy feels the invitation to “help” his mother. Booboo, his dog, sits and watches. The painting becomes boring, so Billy paints a picture. He moves to admire his masterpiece and disaster strikes.

The ladder kept falling and smashed a lamp and a vase…

BANG!

and landed on the sofa.

THUMP!

Billy’s mom leaped up. She couldn’t believe her eyes.”

Mother awakes. Standing amongst the mess, the blame begins. “Er…ah…Booboo did it,” said Billy. Can’t you hear a kid say it? Mr. Pickles, the neghbor, arrives at that moment and spread the news about “an amazing artist” – the dog. Booboo becomes famous… until he has to perform on stage. He’s a wash out. The reader can associate with the characters, feeling the guilt of the boy and the embarassesment of the dog.

The story doesn’t end here. You could stop and have the children predict the next scene. K.T. Hao decides to have the dog become a hero in the end. He runs to his house and puts out a fire, by peeing on it. (The kids will probably find this hilarious.)

Savorings for reading and in writing for Who Did This?:

Suddenly – “Later that evening, Booboo suddenly perked up. He sniffed the air and jumped to his fee. What was that smell?”

Suddenly – to signal a change in the story (see above quote)

Magic Words of Story – “One day Billy’s mom decided to paint the living room.”

Every Day Happening – blaming someone else

Stretching an Important scene – the author uses onomatopoeia and gives a play by play account of the ladder disaster

Book Connection: Jon Scieska shares a similar story from his memoir, Knucklehead, Chapter 2: Who Did It?